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The Cheri complex remained in operation for about 40 years; few movie theaters in Boston have had such a lengthy life span other than the old movie palaces such as the Saxon, Savoy, etc. that have been converted to other uses. The first auditorium opened in February, 1966 with Marlon Brando in “The Chase”. The second auditorium opened in November, 1966 with Jack Lemmon in “The Fortune Cookie”. The third screen (i.e., the smaller auditorium on the upper level with the separate paybox) opened in July 1967 with Walter Matthau in “A Guide to the Married Man”.

The Cheri hosted a number of roadshows during the late-1960’s, including “Funny Girl” and “Oliver!”. When “Funny Lady” premiered there in an exclusive run in 1975, one screen showed the film on a reserved seat basis and another on a general admission basis.

The larger of the two lower level auditoriums was twinned in 1989. Following the closings of the Charles, Cinema 57 and Paris in the early-1990’s, the Cheri and Nickelodeon became the top theaters in the city for major Hollywood first run releases (essentially by default; the only other theater in Boston was the widely disliked Copley Place).

Attendance at the Cheri declined sharply after the opening of the nearby AMC Fenway in the late-1990’s and after a brief tenure as a discount house the Cheri closed in 2001 and is now a bowling alley and nightclub.

Whether the Cheri was deserving of such longevity is another matter. The auditoriums had mediocre sightlines, noticeably low ceilings and average sized screens. I don’t believe that any of the auditoriums were equipped for 70MM. Other Boston theaters of that era such as the Paris, Pi Alley (prior to twinning) and the main auditorium of the Charles complex were much more impressive.

Correct. I think Cheri 1 had a Century JJ 35/70mm projector and Cheri 2 had a Norelco AAll 35/70, both with platters. Originally, they had pairs of each before automation. They ran many 70mm films. “Chitty Bang Bang”, “Sleeping Beauty”, dozens of others. Small screens and very sharp image.

Tom Kauycheck was the long-time manager of the Cheri after Joe Sasso was promoted. Tom’s assistant was Hugo Ugolini. Tommy was terrific and he tended to hire from Boston’s Asian community because (he told me) of their strong family relationships and therefore dependability. But he also hired a lot of Irish kids. The Cheri was the Sack (well before Loews and USA Cinema) flagship house and was touted as among the first mult-screen cinema in the United States. Cheri I and II were okay but Cheri III was a disaster with the projector mounted in the ceiling aiming down (thanks to the space available within the parking garage). By the way, my name is Nat Segaloff and I was the chain’s publicity director in 1973 and 1974, then became a critic.

Tom! YES! Classic Boston accent. I don’t mean to insinuate anything about Tom. It was just that for the area it was an odd batch of hires. A lot of the cats that worked there were characters though. His two assistants were pretty cool too. Rueben and Tony(?) I think. Most of the staff at the end of the day were very good. And Tom was pretty laid back but ran a pretty good show. The guy that Loews/Sony replaced him with was a bit of an ass-clown though. I sort of miss those days. There were two projectionists that worked there too. Can’t recall their names, but one of them was a bit of a creeper. The whole union projectionist thing was odd to me coming from Loews theaters where that wasn’t the case (and man, I LOVED running the booth when I was in Jersey).

I remember Ugolini. must’ve been 70. Remember Joe Sasso too. he was a younger guy. Bill Glazer was a district boss and he hired this tool . last name Kelly as manager. His Fiance was sleeping with half the Staff. this was back in 74.

I have a few memories of the multiplex. Worst film I saw in cinema 1 Godfather 3. Cinema 2 saw the The Right Stuff and Titanic. either cinema 3 or 4 saw Edward Scissorhands (one or the other had a 70 mm projector. When it was a Sack Cinema 1st movie I saw was Semi-Tough (won passes to film) Did cinema 1 have a curtain?

I remember Joe Sasso. I worked at the Sack Cheri when it opened in the 1960s. I was a ticket taker and I worked concessions. It had a make your own ice cream sunday that was very popular. You got to pick your ice cream and toppings and sat down in a reserved decorated. Does anyone remember that?